You are not angry enough

Was it a threat, is it a veiled attempt at communicating a message, has it come to this, was the diverse range of emotions, which has been playing in my head, since the House of Representatives, rejected the presidential demand of re-introducing the budget proposal of the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission. That has been rejected at the first instance, because of the evident disagreement between the executive and the legislature, on the probable culpability of its chief executive officer Mrs. Arunma Oteh, in the possible misapplication of government funds. In fact, seemingly like a cataclysmic afterthought, some have even questioned her eligibility, to hold such a position of the director general of the supreme and primary regulatory agency of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. As if when she was appointed into the post, this particular brand of the republic did not come into existence or the even more glaring fact that appointments into public offices are principally within the purview of executive functions, except in some few instance, where such appointments require legislative confirmations of a forgone executive deed, indeed, in the few instances, where a legislature refuses to confirm, it is still the executive duty to withdraw, lobby and re-submit the name of the individual or a different breed of a human being. The most dangerous and need I say frustrating reality in the art of communications is trying to generate a conversation with a deaf, because of the asphyxiating feeling of being ignored, neglected and disregarded. More so, if such failure at understanding each other was not merely between two individuals, confronting an issue uniquely personal to them, but, where such a breach in communication is between institutions of the government, most especially, two of the three arms of the government, no less. A gargantuan problem of failure in the administrative mechanism of the government arises, because and despite the fact that Securities and Exchange Commission, has a close relationship with the private sector, generates a lot of its own revenue base and has the capacity for self accounting. The overall necessary requirement for the oversight function of the legislature, should never be taken lightly, more so as, such duty is a constitutional as well as statutory right of the National Assembly. It is a cultural thing, yet it is distinctly uncultured. Perhaps, it is about reputation, though, ill-repute has never being a ground for disobeying the law. It seems a set of government officials within the current republic, have developed a destructive habit of acting with impunity, especially against the members and institutions of the National Assembly. The cultural aspect being a sustained tradition of refusal to subject oneself to any inquiry from another arm of the government, it is uncultured, because persons who are accused of this habitual trait, are also individuals celebrated as high end achievers, who have made their names and attained eminence from the famed bastion of western democracies of Europe and the United States of America, countries most famous for respecting the parliamentary oversight phenomena. However, one thing that is not even an issue, among the disparate mass of Nigerian citizenry is an almost universal unanimity, on the challenges of bad reputation afflicting the whole of the National Assembly, which is; if it is not an allegation of corruption, it is always about the habitual influence peddling of its membership or even the re-known attitude of blackmailing persons appearing before the august body. All undertaken for no other just cause, than pure and simple personal interest or individual selfish gain. But, could such a widely held belief, justify acting against the universal norms, values and tradition of accountable governance, by ignoring the people’s assembly, more so as, it is also acting outside the law to perpetuate such uncharacteristic behavior, in a modern state practicing fundamental rudiments of democracy. Historically, for the nations operating a system of bicameral legislature, the lower house is always the most vibrant, lower not junior in the context that it is not having any less power, because of the name tag given to it, rather, because of its having more membership, thus blessed with more delegates than the higher arm of the people’s assembly, which automatically makes it to contain more youthful, active and responsive representatives. Indeed, this has been a factual reality with examples, which is easily explained with the status of the United States Congress, in the tradition of passing more laws for the good governance of the republic, while it is from it, balancing the democratic equation of executive oversight function mostly arises, a visible example is the impeachment of the 42nd President of the United States of America, Mr. Bill Clinton by the Congress, when the United States Senate was prevaricating on what to do with a perjuring leader with wandering hands and eyes. In fact, it is from this martial art and trait of political bluster we can find a solution, to a problem slowly assuming the proportion of gridlock. When the Nigerian Senate became frustrated with the seeming collaborative attitude of the executive in shielding Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, from the appearing before the legislative grace of the red chamber, they chose a particular day, where they raved and ranted for hours and threatened President Goodluck Jonathan with untoward consequences, while cleverly refusing to make any mention of a highly divisive impeachment notice and he quickly acceded to their request. I recommend same strategy for the House of Representatives.